Ice queen who earns more than PM

ANDREA Hill’s enormous salary and lifestyle as a council boss has caused national outrage – and her home isn’t even in the county she runs

Andrea Hill sports her £1,300 Prada handbag during a royal visit to Suffolk

TWICE a day Lian Shepherd pulls on her uniform and ushers hundreds of schoolchildren safely across a busy main road. The popular lollipop lady, who is on duty rain or shine, receives the princely sum of £6.38 an hour. Over the course of the academic year her earnings amount to a little over £2,000 but she is quick to stress that she is not doing the job for the money.

“I’m just putting something back into the community and keeping children safe,” says the 63-year-old from Lowestoft, Suffolk, who is a grandmother of five. Now, however, Lian’s job along with those of more than 60 other crossing patrols is under threat as the region faces savage budget cuts. The bean counters have calculated that axing the lollipop men and women will save the county £174,000 a year.

Unsurprisingly the move, coming on top of cuts to library and other services, has not gone down well. It’s an especially bitter pill to swallow at a time when council taxpayers in Suffolk are funding one of the nation’s

I’m just putting something back into the community and keeping children safe

Andrea Hill

most expensive county council chief executives. In an area of the country where the average salary is about £23,000 a year Andrea Hill is pocketing £218,000. That is £76,000 more than the Prime Minister receives and would pay for all the county’s crossing patrols for an entire year with plenty of cash left over to buy new library books.

This week Hill, 46, is under pressure to take a pay cut and a government minister has joined the clamour. In addition to Hill’s generous salary almost £50,000 is paid into her pension pot each year. Andrea Hill, who is a mother-ofthree with a penchant for designer clothes and expensive haircuts, has spent her career climbing the local government pole. And her current position – along with the pay and perks that go with it – has provoked a national debate on how we have reached a situation in which local government bosses can earn more than those who run the entire country.

After studying public-sector administration at Birmingham University Hill followed the lead of her father, who worked for Essex County Council, and got her first break with the local authority in Thurrock. Since then she has never worked outside local government, moving to North Hertfordshire, Cambridge City, Colchester District and Bedfordshire councils. Hill made the switch to Suffolk three years ago agreeing to a salary deal worth almost £70,000 more than her predecessor’s.

From the moment that Hill strode into one meeting wearing a daringly high pair of stilettos, she has been a controversial figure. Under her control Suffolk County Council was criticised for spending more than £6,000 on team-building exercises. The training included chocolate-making lessons, drumming, singing and rope walks. Later £12,000 was paid to “development guru” Sol Davidson for 23 sessions with Hill. He is described as an expert in “leading on the edge of chaos”.

Then there was an outcry when it emerged that a photographer had been commissioned to produce makeover- style portraits of the council chief. The bill showed that more than £1,400 was paid for “Andrea Hill photos”. Her constantly-evolving hairstyle became a source of fascination, changing from auburn tints to soft curls and short crop. Hill also raised eyebrows by turning up clutching a £1,300 Prada handbag to officially welcome Prince Charles and Camilla to Suffolk. Her insistence that her first name is pronounced “Arn-drea” has become a joke among staff.

In her last post Hill was nicknamed “the Ice Queen”. Former councillor Susan Gaszczak recalls: “She was one of the strangest women I’ve ever me She didn’t seem to want to communicate with anyone. “She very much enjoyed getting her own way and was obsessed by image. I would turn up for meetings dressed in clothes from Next and she would be wearing designer suits and clearly spent a lot of money on her hair. She received a car allowance and drove a red sports car.”

HILL is a fitness fanatic who windsurfs, does yoga and runs marathons in her spare time. She has said that this helps her cope with the demands of heading a local authority and mother hood, adding: “It’s about work/life balance. These are enormously big jobs and you could let them take over your life.” Her husband Phil, 52, is an executive for an insurance firm and they live in a £500,000 converted barn in the village of Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Her home is about 60 miles from her desk in Ipswich and there have also been rumblings over her decision to live outside the county that pays her so handsomely. Earlier this week there were two Mercedes sports cars parked in the driveway of the family home. At Suffolk there have also been examples of Hill’s unique management style. One worker at the council’s headquarters who unwittingly found herself in a lift with the chief executive is said to have commented on the weather only to be greeted with the retort: “I don’t do small talk.”

Part of the chief executive’s job description is to foster good relations with elected councillors but Hill is barely on speaking terms with Kathy Pollard, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition. She dared to write a blog in which she questioned Hill’s suitability to stay in charge. Councillor Pollard says: “We also had a very forthright conversation in which I suggested she had lost the confidence of the people of Suffolk. It did not go down well. “She very much runs a regime of fear in stark contrast to her predecessor who was here for ten years and operated an open-door policy.

“Andrea Hill’s salary has always been a bone of contention but matters have been compounded by the sheer scale of the budget cuts she is overseeing.” Figures obtained in a freedom of information request showed that last year £500,000 was paid out in “gagging orders” to departing staff – confidentiality clauses to prevent them speaking out about their time at the council. Another example of her determination to do things her own way came when it emerged that she and other council chiefs accepted free trips to the US from a company with a multi-million-pound contract with her council.

Hill went on two week-long visits paid for by BT to “explore business thinking”, it was revealed. Nationally, big-earning council chiefs are under pressure to voluntarily cut their salaries and about a quarter who are earning £147,934 on average have agreed. Local Government Minister Grant Shapps said this week: “Andrea Hill needs to do the right thing and make a commitment to protecting frontline services by taking a pay cut.” Despite all the furore, Hill has launched a resolute defence of her salary which has been likened to the inflated wages paid to Premier League footballers.

She has said: “I feel that I get paid a fair salary for the job that I am asked to do. “If you compare the jobs that we have as chief executive with the equivalent jobs in the private sector you could be earning up to three or four times as much.” She has an ally in Jeremy Pemboke, leader of the council, who insists: “We need a chief executive with a proven track record for excellence, outstanding experience and the ability and drive to deliver. Andrea Hill is that person.”

The council points out that she has declined salary increases worth £11,000 over the last three years and that she has improved efficiency. Yet outside county hall there is hardly a soul to be found who supports her £218,000 salary and many would be glad to see the back of her. Andrea Hall insists she will not walk away – but it seems the Ice Queen is facing the heat.